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Rice University semiconductor researchers join DARPA-funded Texas team

Researchers from Rice University and the University of Texas have teamed up for semiconductor microsystem innovation. Photo courtesy of UT

A team led by the University of Texas at Austin and partnered with Rice University was awarded $840 million to develop “the next generation of high-performing semiconductor microsystems" for the U.S. Department of Defense.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) selected UT’s Texas Institute for Electronics (TIE) semiconductor consortium to establish a national open access R&D and prototyping fabrication facility.

The facility hopes to enable the DOD to create higher performance, lower power, lightweight, and compact defense systems. The technology could apply to radar, satellite imaging, unmanned aerial vehicles, or other systems, and ultimately will assist with national security and global military leadership. As a member of DARPA’s Next Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing (NGMM) team, Rice’s contributions are key.

Executive vice president for research Ramamoorthy Ramesh and the Rice researchers will focus on technologies for improving computing efficiency. In a Rice press release, Ramesh notes the need to enhance “energy-efficient computing” which highlights Rice’s qualifications to contribute to the solution.

New microsystem designs will be enabled by 3D heterogeneous integration (3DHI)semi, which is a semiconductor fabrication technology that integrates diverse materials and components into microsystems via precision assembly technologies.

Kepler Computing, is a member of the NGMM team and utilizes ferroelectrics to develop energy-efficient approaches in computer memory and logic, and was co-founded by Ramesh. Other Rice researchers include:

  • Lane Martin, director of the Rice Advanced Materials Institute
  • Ashok Veeraraghavan, chair of electrical and computer engineering
  • Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering and founding chair of the materials science and nanoengineering department
  • Kaiyuan Yang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering
  • Guha Balakrishnan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering

“Given the rapid growth of machine learning AI applications, there is a pressing need to fundamentally rethink current computing methodologies to advance the next generation of microelectronics,” Ramesh says in a news release. ”Rice University boasts world-class researchers with exceptional expertise in computer and electrical engineering poised to bolster this critical federally funded initiative.”

Overall, the project represents a total investment of $1.4 billion. The $840 million award from DARPA is a return on the Texas Legislature’s $552 million investment in TIE. TIE has funded the update of two UT fabrication facilities.

“TIE is tapping into the semiconductor talent available in Texas and nationally to build an outstanding team of semiconductor technologists and executives that can create this national center of excellence in 3DHI microsystems,” S.V. Sreenivasan, TIE founder and chief technology officer and UT professor of mechanical engineering adds.

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A View From HETI

A team from UH has published two breakthrough studies that could help cut costs and boost efficiency in carbon capture. Photo courtesy UH.

A team of researchers at the University of Houston has made two breakthroughs in addressing climate change and potentially reducing the cost of capturing harmful emissions from power plants.

Led by Professor Mim Rahimi at UH’s Cullen College of Engineering, the team released two significant publications that made significant strides relating to carbon capture processes. The first, published in Nature Communications, introduced a membraneless electrochemical process that cuts energy requirements and costs for amine-based carbon dioxide capture during the acid gas sweetening process. Another, featured on the cover of ES&T Engineering, demonstrated a vanadium redox flow system capable of both capturing carbon and storing renewable energy.

“These publications reflect our group’s commitment to fundamental electrochemical innovation and real-world applicability,” Rahimi said in a news release. “From membraneless systems to scalable flow systems, we’re charting pathways to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors and support the transition to a low-carbon economy.”

According to the researchers, the “A Membraneless Electrochemically Mediated Amine Regeneration for Carbon Capture” research paper marked the beginning of the team’s first focus. The research examined the replacement of costly ion-exchange membranes with gas diffusion electrodes. They found that the membranes were the most expensive part of the system, and they were also a major cause of performance issues and high maintenance costs.

The researchers achieved more than 90 percent CO2 removal (nearly 50 percent more than traditional approaches) by engineering the gas diffusion electrodes. According to PhD student and co-author of the paper Ahmad Hassan, the capture costs approximately $70 per metric ton of CO2, which is competitive with other innovative scrubbing techniques.

“By removing the membrane and the associated hardware, we’ve streamlined the EMAR workflow and dramatically cut energy use,” Hassan said in the news release. “This opens the door to retrofitting existing industrial exhaust systems with a compact, low-cost carbon capture module.”

The second breakthrough, published by PhD student Mohsen Afshari, displayed a reversible flow battery architecture that absorbs CO2 during charging and releases it upon discharge. The results suggested that the technology could potentially provide carbon removal and grid balancing when used with intermittent renewables, such as solar or wind power.

“Integrating carbon capture directly into a redox flow battery lets us tackle two challenges in one device,” Afshari said in the release. “Our front-cover feature highlights its potential to smooth out renewable generation while sequestering CO2.”

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